Frozen Heart (Reupload)
by Panthermonspartner
Summary: Reuploaded and re-edited just for you, you know who you are


Frozen Heart

"Faster daddy!" A little girl screamed in delight as her father pulled her sled around their snow-covered yard. _'Faster Papa!'_ was all Jack Frost heard as he sat upon the roof of the girl's home and watched her and her father play. The girl's brunette hair turned pale blonde and her father's turned white, their clothes changing to fit a time long ago, the plastic sled becoming one of ice. Jack closed her eyes and turned away, grimacing at the memory.

" _Faster Papa!" Annika squealed joyfully as her father pulled the sled by the end of his staff, flying just above the freshly fallen snow._

" _You want faster kid? I'll give you faster." He smiled before a winter wind propelled them forward up a snow bank, launching Annika into the air. Without hesitation, he flew up and wrapped his arms around his giggling little girl._

"There you are Jack. North asked me to come find you; you didn't show up to help." A feminine voice pulled him out of his memory. Jack looked up and saw the Tooth Fairy flying over to him.

"Well here I am." He said quietly, looking back at the girl below him. Tooth looked at him with concern.

"Jack, is everything alright?" She asked, hovering down to sit next to him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking about some stuff."

Tooth looked at him and then where his gaze was. The guardian of memories didn't believe what he'd said for one second, she could tell he was thinking about the past. She recalled that he'd had a sister, perhaps he was thinking about her? No that didn't seem right, it would have made more sense for him to be thinking about a daughter, but Jack never had kids. He was too young when he became a guardian, unless.

"She reminds you of yours doesn't she?" Toothiana asked, going out on a limb.

Jack glanced at her, unsure how she might have known that but in the end nodded and said "Yeah."

"How long ago?" Tooth asked quietly.

"The last time I saw them was 1868." He replied. "They both died well over a hundred years ago." He whispered, bringing his knees to his chest and laying his arms on them, followed by his chin.

"I'm sorry Jack." She said, putting a feathery hand on his shoulder.

He shook his head "Don't be, it's no one's fault, just part of being a Guardian I suppose, losing the ones you care about." He sighed. Tooth looked away at that, thinking of her own parents that had died after she had become a guardian. Truly it was the only bad part of their lives, being immortal when everyone around you isn't.

"Do you want to talk about them?" She asked, "Sometimes reliving memories can help us cope with the fact that they are memoires. Trust me, it's my center." She said kindly.

The girl below them followed her father inside to get warm and Jack stood up. "Let's get going, North and the others are waiting for us aren't they?" He said, grabbing his staff and flying into the air. Tooth hesitated for a second but followed after him.

The pair of guardians flew in silence for a long time, Tooth glancing at Jack every so often out of worry. Jack looked almost lost, as if a part of him was missing. She didn't know what to say to him, until he spoke up himself.

"There's this kingdom, deep in the mountains near Norway, called Arendelle. It's a tiny kingdom, really just a village, its port and the surrounding forest and mountains. But it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I don't even remember where I was headed when I found it, Egypt maybe? But I was flying through the mountains and I saw this massive castle high up on the side of one of them, it was made entirely of the purest most crystalline ice I'd ever seen." Jack let out a sigh and a soft smile.

"I couldn't help myself so I landed and went to explore. The interior was just as gorgeous, snowflakes inlaid everywhere and the colors that reflected; not just blue but purples and pinks and colors I didn't even know ice could be." He seemed lost in his memory of the palace and Tooth could picture it as he described it.

"But who built it?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Jack let out a sigh that made him smile. "The most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Tooth felt her feathers ruffle a little out of jealousy, even though she knew she shouldn't be, luckily Jack didn't notice and continued with his story.

"She walked through that door and the way the sunlight hit her, and that dress she was wearing the fabric looked like spun snowflakes, man she looked just like an angel." His eyes were closed and the smile on his face had grown massive. "But the most amazing part was when she waved her hands and furniture began to appear from the floor, made entirely of ice. She had powers, ice powers, like me."

Tooth's eyes widened "A human with ice powers?! How is that possible?"

"She was born with them, she'd had them her whole life. She was the one who built the castle, all on her own. Amazing right?"

"What happened next? She couldn't see you could she?"

Jack looked at Tooth with a smile. "She could."

 _Jack watched in awe as she created chairs and tables before his eyes with utter ease. "Wow." He breathed quietly, even though she wouldn't hear him._

 _Suddenly he heard her yell and cry "Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" He looked around, sure he was the only one here besides her, and she couldn't see him. "I asked you a question. Who are you?" She demanded again, less frightened this time. She seemed to be looking directly at him._

" _Who me?" He asked incredulously._

" _Who else would I be talking to?" She said with a frown. He noticed her hands outstretched as if she was going to attack him._

" _Wait you can see me?" He asked, eyes going wide._

" _Of course? Why wouldn't I be able to see you?" She asked._

 _Jack began to laugh in amazement and landed, barely feeling the chill of the icy floor on his bare feet. He looked at his hands and then back at the woman._

" _You can really see me? I'm not invisible?" He asked again as if the first time may have been a fluke or a dream._

" _I can still see you, really." She assured him, still not lowering her hands. "And if you would be so kind as to explain to me who exactly you are and why you are here?"_

" _Sorry, it's just, no one has ever been able to see me before, at least a hundred years and you're the first person to see me. My name is Jack Frost, pleasure to meet you." He said, holding out a hand for her to shake._

" _Jack Frost? As in the winter spirit? My mother used to read me stories of him, I didn't know he, well you I guess, were real." She said in astonishment, bringing her hands back to her sides. Jack did a little bow._

" _Well I'm real and here I am. And who if I may ask, do I have the delight of speaking with?"_

 _She blinked and straightened her posture a little bit. "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. But you may call me Elsa." She said, standing regally._

 _Jack whistled lowly "A Queen eh? Can't say I've met one of those before or one of anyone for that matter." He chuckled. "Well it's an honor to meet you, Queen Elsa of Arendelle." He bowed again with a wide smile._

 _She smiled a little herself, curtsying to him "And you as well Jack Frost, spirit of winter."_

"We spent the rest of the night talking and getting to know each other. I told her all about the things I did as the winter spirit and she told me all about her powers and her kingdom. Turns out she had built the castle a few years prior after getting into an argument with her sister and accidentally revealing her powers to a bunch of visiting dignitaries that accused her of witchcraft. It was all fixed by the time she and I met, but the castle remained as a sort of getaway for her. But what really brought us together were our powers, she'd never met anyone with any kind of magic, let alone magic like hers. So for the few days she was at the ice castle on a mini vacation, I stayed to keep her company. She taught me some of her tricks and I taught her some of mine. It was probably the best few days of my life."

Tooth couldn't help but squeal at how cute it was. "That's adorable! It must have been her powers that let her see you then, oh that's so romantic!"

Jack blushed a little at Tooth's words and laughed "I guess so."

"Did you two get married? Did you go back to Arendelle with her? Could other people see you? Are you a King?" Tooth asked in only a few breaths. Jack laughed at her enthusiasm.

He rubbed the back of his neck and said "Yeah, when it was time for her to go home I decided I didn't want to be without her, so I went with her. It didn't take much to convince her sister Anna I was real and Anna convinced her own husband and their kids. Most of the children of the kingdom and a lot of the adults had grown up hearing stories of Jack Frost, whatever version they had, so it wasn't that hard to convince them I was real, especially since they were so open-minded about magic because of Elsa and her powers."

"I started to court Elsa not long after that, because back then you really had to be with someone a long time before you could consider marrying them, believe me if I could have I would have asked her to marry me much sooner than I did. But eventually she did agree to marry me." He explained wincing a little at the squeal of happiness Tooth made.

"So that means you are technically the king of Arendelle right?" She asked.

Jack shook his head "Not really, that's not how it works. Since I wasn't born royalty, I became the consort. The funny part was that Elsa came up with a title for me to put on the invitations." He chuckled lightly to himself. "She was Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and I Jackson Overland Frost, Duke of Istappe."

Tooth laughed a little herself "Duke of Icicles? As funny as that is, it fits pretty well."

"That's why she picked it. And the fact that very few of the guests knew Swedish." Tooth did a mock bow to Jack. "Well then I Toothiana Queen of the Fairies, bow to you Jackson Frost, Duke of Istappe."

"Why thank you, your majesty." He bowed back.

"So what happened next? Did you and Elsa have any children?" Tooth asked eagerly.

Jack's smile fell away a little bit. "Yeah, we had a little girl a year later. Annika Emma Frost, named after Elsa's sister and my own."

" _Jack go get Anna now, please." Elsa groaned, clutching her bulging stomach. Jack fled their room in a panic, rushing to go find Anna._

" _Anna!" He yelled, bursting into the princess' room. Luckily for him she was getting her eldest child ready and not doing something else._

" _I take it Elsa is ready then?" Anna asked with a small smile, struggling to stand with her own swollen stomach, pregnant with her third child. "Kristoff can you finish getting William ready and go wake Lisbet while I go help Elsa?" Her husband nodded and kissed her quickly before doing as she asked. Anna then hobbled out of her room and down the hall to Elsa and Jack's, Jack right behind her._

 _Hours later an exhausted Elsa held her newborn daughter in her arms. The little girl looking up at her mother with wide blue eyes. "She looks just like you Elsa." Jack said, smiling wide._

" _Our little Annika." Elsa said. The newest princess sneezed suddenly, tiny snowflakes appearing when she did so. Elsa's smile fell as she watched Annika giggle and try and catch the snowflakes "She has my powers."_

 _Jack saw her worry and kissed her forehead "Don't worry, we can teach her. She won't have to be afraid like you were. She has us."_

"She was the perfect mix of both Elsa and I. She looked just like her mother, but had my sense of whimsy as Elsa called it. And once she learned how to use her powers, oh boy, I can't tell you how many days we spent ice skating in the ballrooms or building snowmen in the great hall. We taught her early on to never suppress her powers, so she never lost control like Elsa did. Of course that did cause the maids to have to clean up ice and snow nearly every day. Annika did her best to keep it outside, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself." Jack chuckled softly.

"She sounds like a cute kid." Tooth said.

"She was, and smart to, she had all those lessons to go to so that she could be Queen one day. Geography, language, and all those manners classes. She was busier than me and I had to bring winter to every country in the world. Though I'm sure they paid off in the end." He said, suddenly becoming very somber.

"What do you mean? Didn't you see her become Queen?" Tooth asked, confused by his words.

Jack simply shook his head, his smile falling away completely. "I left before her tenth birthday. Some visiting dignitaries came for some trade summit meeting with Elsa. None of them could see me so when Elsa referred to her husband they all thought she was crazy. They all refused to trade with Arendelle because they thought she was insane and unfit to rule. She cried all night after that. Arendelle lost so many economic possibilities because of me. They would barely have enough money to feed everyone through winter. Because of me and my selfish desire to be with Elsa, we'd never thought about how it would affect anyone but us. It wouldn't have been a big deal if it had been the first time it happened, but it had happened before. She'd always found other ways of making enough to support the kingdom before, but these were Arendelle's biggest trade partners, and they wanted nothing to do with Elsa or Arendelle. "

Tooth could see where Jack's tale was going. "So I left one night, I didn't even say goodbye to Elsa or anyone. The sooner they forgot about me, the better off Arendelle would be." Tooth saw a glistening tear run down Jack's cheek. "I left to protect them, and I never went back. The people of Arendelle were the only ones who'd ever seen me until I met you guys." He said, taking a breath to collect himself.

"Jack I'm"

"Don't say it. Please, just forget everything I told you." He interrupted her, flying ahead of her as North's workshop appeared on the horizon.

Tooth stopped and watched him go, closing her eyes sadly. She understood why he always wanted to be alone; the one time he'd gotten close to someone he thought he'd done something selfish and wrong, believing he'd ruined Arendelle's future. He'd even stopped seeing Jamie so often, probably scared that his life would be difficult because he believed in Jack and the rest of them. "Oh Jack, you think you're protecting everyone, but your only hurting yourself." She said softly before following him to the workshop.

"Jack, Tooth, just in time to help sort letters!" North greeted cheerily, a smile on his face as the two guardians flew into the workshop. Jack frowned a little seeing the enormous piles of paper scattered around the workshop. Bunnymund sat at the base of one and Sandy next to another. "We just getting started! Jack you take the 'C' section, read letter and decide if naughty or nice." North instructed, grabbing his list to begin to check it. Jack gave a small nod but didn't say a word, sitting atop his staff as he grabbed a letter off the top of his pile.

The all worked diligently till Bunny let out a small laugh. "Would you get a load of this? Some kid from a place called Arendelle doesn't want anything for herself. She wants one of the poor kids in the kingdom to get her toy. What a kid, she's getting extra eggs for Easter." Jack had tuned Bunny out until he heard the name Arendelle, his eyes widening a little. Tooth took notice as well, giving Jack a look.

North was oblivious to either guardian and gave a deep belly laugh. "Every year she asks the same. That is the princess of Arendelle, her family taught her well. It's been years since one of the royals asked for a toy for themselves for Christmas. Always for one of the children of the kingdom." He said with a smile, standing from his chair and walking into his office for a moment. "I kept first letter I received from Arendelle not asking for toy. From the princess a long time ago, 1868." He explained, coming out with a worn looking folded piece of paper.

Jack gulped, instantly knowing that the letter was from Annika. Tooth made the connection as well and asked "If she didn't want a toy, did she ask for anything?"

North's smile fell slightly and he sighed. "There are very few things I cannot give a child. She found one of them. She asked to see her papa again. I don't know circumstances, but every year she asked same thing until she grew up and stopped sending letters."

Hearing that made Jack's heart drop and his guilt skyrocket. He closed his eyes and flew out of the workshop without a word, not even hearing Tooth calling his name. "What's with him?" Bunny asked in confusion. Toothiana looked where Jack had gone, trying to decide if she should tell the others what she knew or not. It didn't take her long to make up her mind. 'It's for your own good Jack.'

The other three guardians looked at the Tooth Fairy when she sighed. "That letter is from Jack's daughter. He told me all about her and his past after he became a guardian but before he met us. He had a family, a wife and a child. But he left them because he thought he was dooming Arendelle. His wife, Elsa, was the Queen and a lot of Arendelle's trade partners thought she was insane because they couldn't see Jack and she could. So he left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye." All of them looked anguished to hear such a story about their friend.

"Poor kid. Must've been hard for him to hear that letter." Bunny said sympathetically. He'd really never had any family or anyone he cared about once he became a guardian but he still imagined how tough it hard to be for Jack. And if he left his family over two hundred years ago, "and they're all long dead now." Bunny said softly.

No one said a word, all feeling pity for their friend, until North spoke up. "I have idea." He stood quickly, rushing into his office, the sound of drawers and cabinets being searched coming from inside. Eventually he gave a victorious shout and came back out holding a small red orb.

"What's that?" Tooth asked, flying over to get a closer look.

"Gift from friend long time ago. It's time orb. Allows user to travel in time forward, or back." He smiled at the others. Sandman was the first to catch on, a golden smile lighting up on his face as he nodded vigorously to show his agreement to the plan.

"That's brilliant mate." Bunny smiled, understanding soon after, Tooth smiled and nodded as well.

"Now, we find Jack." North announced, putting the orb in his coat before running out of the workshop in the direction Jack had gone.

Tooth flew out ahead of the ahead of the others and looked around the snowy hills that surrounded the magical building. "No sign of him, he's already gone." She informed everyone else with a disparaged sigh. "He could be miles away by now with the north wind on his back."

They returned to the workshop in silence, everything thinking about where he may have gone. Burgess was one idea, but Jack wasn't upset about Jamie so that wouldn't make sense. Bunny suddenly looked up "He told you his full story yeah?" He asked, looking at Tooth.

"Not all of it, but most of it I think."

"You have any idea where he might have gone? Cause I can't think of anywhere."

She shook her head as she tried to think, looking at the ground. But then it hit her "Arendelle. The ice castle." She said softly, her eyes widening. "North, Norway's not too far from here is it?" She asked suddenly, looking up at him.

"Few hundred miles, not long by sleigh. Usually one of first places on my route. Why?"

"What about Arendelle? That's near Norway right?" The other guardians realized the Tooth fairy's train of thought.

"But wait," Bunny said. "Isn't Arendelle what made him upset in the first place?"

"I don't think he was upset, honestly I think he was homesick. He misses his family. When I found him, he was watching a father and daughter play in the snow. If I were missing my family, I would want to be around them. But since they aren't here anymore, I think he went to the next best thing." She explained herself.

"It's worth a shot if it's the only idea we have." Bunny agreed. Sandy nodded and a snowflake appeared above his head, surrounded by a tooth, an egg, a present and a cloud.

"Sandy's right. We have to show Jack that we still care about him and we are here to help him." Tooth nodded with a smile.

"Then let us go find our friend! We take sleigh!" North said excitedly.

"I was hoping he wouldn't say that." Bunny groaned, his ears flopping down sadly. "Let's just go get Jack and come back. The sooner we're done with the sleigh, the better."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~As Toothiana had predicted, Jack had flown straight to Elsa's Ice Castle. It had fallen into partial disrepair, some of the floors getting thinner and most of the edges of the structure were slightly rounded instead of crisp and sharp like they had been upon their creation. But the cold weather on the North Mountain was enough to keep the castle preserved even after all this time, and for that Jack was eternally grateful. He doubted he had the ability to rebuild something of this magnitude even if he tried.

He landed silently in front of the icy staircase leading to the front door. The snow guardian that once stood watch, affectionately named Marshmallow, had long ago become nothing but a pile of snow after Elsa's magic had worn off. The staircase itself held a few cracks now as a result of the weight of snow that sometimes fell on it, never enough to completely destroy it but plenty to damage it to the point that anyone unable to hover or fly would likely fall through.

He laid a gently hand on the banister, curls of frost dancing up and around the ice, creating a merger of two forms of ice magic. Jack flew slowly up the staircase, his hand not leaving the banister. The final monument to his snow angel deserved to be beautiful. She'd always loved the designs he was able to create, and would always get frustrated that she was only able to make snowflakes while he was able to make intricate patterns and swirling designs with his frost.

That was what Jack liked most about their powers, they both controlled ice and snow, yet different aspects of it. She could make the most elaborate and beautiful ice sculptures with the flick of the wrist, while he couldn't make anything like those to save his life, but his snow was magic, bringing fun to anyone who touched it. He'd attempted to make a sculpture of her one time, but try as he might his power just wouldn't cooperate. So he'd settled for frosted effigies, almost like paintings, which now decorated the interior of the ice castle. Jack let out a sigh of relief seeing his pictures unharmed when he pushed open the heavy ice doors of the castle.

The walls of the main hall were filled with his images; most of Elsa, some of Annika when she was a child; one or two of them had both Elsa and him. But the centerpiece of the room was right in the center 'hanging' above the icy fountain in the middle of the two staircases. This was the one that had taken him the longest to make and the one that made him feel the guiltiest.

It was all three of them, his whole family. He'd tried to make an official royal portrait, like the one that had been painted when Annika was born, but that had quickly changed as his mind wandered while making it. They still sat together, Elsa on her throne, Jack standing at her side and a three year old Annika on Elsa's lap, but instead of the calm regal smiles they were supposed to have, all three of them were laughing joyously. Annika writhed in Elsa's lap as her parents tickled her, a massive grin on her face.

 _Jack sighed and floated back from the painting. His feet touched the cold floor and he looked up to see how his artwork looked, gasping in surprise seeing what he had made. He stared at the picture, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He could hear Annika's delighted peals and Elsa's bell like laughter ringing in his ears. Laughter he would never hear again._

Seeing the picture brought back the same gut wrenching feeling deep inside him. He couldn't handle it after what he had learned about Annika's letters. But he knew he would regret ruining or destroying it. Instead he decided to take a page out of Elsa's book. Long ago she'd taught him one of her favorite skills, creating fabric from ice and frost.

It was one of the few, non-naturally occurring things he was able to do with ice, Mother Nature herself could make the rest of his magic. Sure he wasn't nearly as good as Elsa was, he couldn't make complete outfits in seconds like she could, but with a little focus he was able to craft fabric. So that's what he did, much like when the rulers were mourned and their portraits covered, he would do the same to the portrait he had created.

Jack sat down on the floor and set his staff beside him. He grabbed the end of the staff and tapped his hand once on the bottom. They had figured out that by doing so he could focus his power in himself instead of his staff, but only for a short time. Jack then took a deep breath and closed his eyes, putting his fingertips together; slowly he pulled them apart, releasing a little bit of power to form a single icy thread.

That was the start, repeating the process over and over, the threads multiplying each time until he had a small sheer square of pale blue frosted fabric. After the initial creation of the fabric square, it got easier for him. He focused a bit more power and the fabric began to grow, the pattern repeating itself until he had a large piece of fabric about the size of a blanket. Next came the embellishments, a completely optional thing, but his favorite part.

Droplets of ice formed beading around the swirl designs frosted on, dainty shimmering snowflakes layered over each other to acts as sequins, and a thin layer of frost over the entire thing made it sparkle in the sunlight reflecting through the castle. Jack looked over his work before nodding in satisfaction and flying up to carefully drape the fabric over the portrait.

He backed away and sighed sadly, he could just make out Annika's face through the cover. But that gave him an idea, a finishing touch on the memorial he had created. A bouquet of her favorite frost flowers.

" _Papa Papa!" Annika called to Jack as she ran down the hall towards him as fast as her legs could carry her. Jack felt a grin come to his face and swept her up in his arms when she got close enough._

" _What are you doing? I thought you had lessons?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, expecting to hear that she had escaped because she was bored._

" _Mama said she has lots of important meetings today so I don't have them!" Annika cheered._

 _Jack laughed and said "Well in that case, I suppose we should start our own lessons hm?" Annika frowned a little "But Papa" She whined, having hoped to get out of boring lessons for the day._

" _Now when did I ever say what the lessons would be in?" He winked with a mischievous smile, moving her to his back._

" _Hold on tight." He said before flying out a nearby window, Annika's joyous laughter in his ears. They flew all around the village and the castle, even once stopping by one of the windows of the meeting room Elsa was in to try and make her smile._

" _Now gently blow on the window." Jack said quietly as Annika did as he instructed, thin frost spreading across the glass. She smiled and carefully wrote 'Hi Mama!' with her finger, but since she didn't really understand how it worked, her message appeared backwards to Elsa. The Queen barely stifled her giggle at her daughter's antics, trying to refocus on what the ambassador was saying._

 _Jack and Annika flew to the forest just outside the village and started to practice making snowballs, well Annika practiced while trying to dodge the ones Jack threw at her. Eventually she got tired and fell back in the snow, snuggling into it as if it were a cozy blanket. Jack lay down next to her and made snowfall above them so she could try and catch snowflakes on her tongue._

" _Papa will you make a pretty thing for me?" Annika asked, looking at Jack._

 _Jack, assuming she was talking about the extremely detailed snowflakes Elsa could make said, "I thought you said that Mama was better at making those?"_

 _Annika shook her head indignantly "No not those pretty things, the ones you make!" Jack smirked a little in understanding and sat up a little._

" _You mean these?" He teased, easily creating a rose make of ice and frost in his hands. Annika's eyes lit up, as did her smile._

 _Jack carefully slid the rose into her hair and kissed her nose. "We need to think of a better name for those. Can't have your Mama and I getting confused can we?" He chuckled._

 _Annika bit her lip thoughtfully "How about we call your pretty things frost flowers?"_

 _He ruffled her hair a bit and said, "I was thinking the same thing."_

 _Annika moved closer to snuggle next to her father, watching the snow fall down on them. "I want to have frost flowers when I get married. Mama told me that you made her some pretty ones when you got married." Jack smiled and kissed her forehead._

" _I did and I would be honored to make some just for you when you get married some day."_

"I'm sorry I broke that promise Annika." Jack muttered quietly to himself. "Hopefully this can make up for it." Jack waved his hands together and made a bouquet of frost flowers, keeping them together with a band of ice. He found one of the many ice vases still in the castle and quickly repaired the few cracks in it before setting it on the railing above the covered portrait. He set the bouquet in the vase and backed away once more, taking in all of his work.

It was much better but still not perfect. He picked up his staff and tapped it carefully on the ground creating a single frost flower that seemed to grow from the icy floor. "One down, a whole room to go." He said quietly before setting to work filling the great hall of the Ice Palace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arendelle is just below us." North yelled over the wind howling past them. "Where do you think Jack is?" He asked, looking back at Tooth.

"He said it was on the side of some mountain. I'm not sure which one, but I'm pretty sure an Ice castle would stand out." She told him.

"We start at tallest mountain, see if we can spot castle from there."

They'd arrived just as the sun was setting, the fading light casting gorgeous reds and oranges across the fjord that Arendelle was settled in. Boats floated in the calm harbor and people bustled about like tiny ants, trying to finish their business before night. The royal castle sat right on the edge of fjord, its spires and flags lit by modern lighting.

North directed the sleigh towards the mountains to the north of Arendelle. Soon snow began to fall, as they got higher into the mountains. Tooth wrapped her arms around herself, fluffing her feathers to try and stay warm. "No wonder frostbite like it up here, probably feels like paradise to him." Bunny complained. Sandy had already made himself a winter coat out of his dream sand and North had no problem with the freezing weather.

"North Mountain just over that ridge!" North announced, pointing to a large snowy crag rising in the distance. "Will circle around, find place to land sleigh." But as the sleigh flew around the North Mountain, the jaws of every Guardian dropped. For before them, looking precariously attached to the mountain was the most magnificent structure any of them had ever seen.

The whole castle looked like it was made of pure crystal, the lessening sunlight making the towers and walls glow purple and turquoise. And the fact that it seemed to hang off the side of the jagged mountain made it even more impressive. "Frostbite didn't build this did he?" Bunny asked in awe.

Tooth shook her head slowly "No, his wife did."

Their eyes never left the castle as North landed on a small snow covered plateau. North got off first, sinking into the deep snow a little. Bunny frowned and followed behind, shivering from the cold on his feet; Sandy and Tooth hovered just above the snow. They approached the ice staircase, none of them saying a word. Tooth flew forward and saw the patterns and designs on the banisters.

"Jack was here alright, I'd know his frost anywhere." She said.

"Then let's go." North said with a smile, placing a heavy foot on the first stair. But when the sound of buckling ice echoed in the fissure below the stairs, they all froze in place.

"It must have been years since anyone came here, even magic ice starts to melt and shift." Tooth realized.

Sandy smiled and made his own staircase out of sand next to the existing one, gesturing with a smile. They made their way to the large doors of the castle but then paused. Sandy made a knocking gesture with a question mark above his head. North looked at Tooth uncertainly but she nodded without hesitation. Carefully North knocked on the doors, the sound reverberating through the thick ice.

The doors shifted a little, allowing North to push them open, his eyes widening when he saw what was inside. Tooth flew in above them but fell to a halt in stunned awe as she took in the room. Frozen flowers covered the floor of the great hall like a beautiful meadow; each looked like they were made of nothing but frost that they were so delicate they could break at any moment.

Tooth forced herself to look away from the flowers and around the room. She flew over to examine what seemed to be a painting of a beautiful woman with her hair braided over her shoulder. Sandy was also looking at the paintings, finding one of a little girl chasing snowflakes. Bunny and North left it to their flying companions to explore, not wanting to ruin any of the flowers. "Now where the heck is Jack?" Bunny asked, looking around the best he could from the doorway.

The Guardian in question climbed the final few stairs to what he playfully called the receiving room. It was his favorite room in the whole castle with its huge chandelier and beautiful inlaid snowflake on the floor, not to mention the balcony that looked out over all of the mountains and Arendelle. It'd taken Jack some time to convince Elsa to come up here to fix the chandelier after he'd found it when he first met her. The room made her feel uneasy and nervous with all the bad things that had happened here. The few times she came up here after the events of her coronation had always been with him. They'd come up just before dusk and watch the sunset, then spend the night and watch the sunrise in the morning.

Jack had just moved out onto the balcony as the sun began to set, leaning against his staff to watch, allowing memories to flood through his mind. But as he looked around the snow-covered peaks a flash of red caught his eye. He looked down to the plateau at the base of the castle, his eyes widening when they locked on the unmistakable sleigh of Nicholas St. North.

Jack dashed out of the room and flew down the stairs as fast as he could, they couldn't be here. There was no way they had followed him, he'd left far too quickly for that. Unless, "Tooth." Jack muttered to himself with a tiny frown. He paused his flight when he got to the top of the staircase leading down to the Great Hall. If they were here then Tooth had likely told them everything she knew. He had to be ready to face their questions and the subsequent memories that arose from them.

Tooth was the first to notice when the air suddenly got colder, the way it always did around Jack. She looked up and saw him walking down the staircase that led up to more of the castle. She flew up to meet him when he got to the landing of the great hall, embracing him tightly before pulling away. None of the Guardians spoke for a moment until Bunny said "Pretty chilly up here mate. I get that you're spirit of winter and all that, but some of us don't have the same immunity you do." A ghost of a smile played on Jack's face for a second.

"The cold never really bothered either of us." He said, looking around the room.

"Jack if I had known, I would have told you about letter sooner. I didn't mean to make it secret" North said from the doorway but Jack interrupted him.

"I was the one that kept it a secret. Don't worry about it, I don't blame you." They lapsed into silence again, no one having any idea what to say. Sandy sensed the tension and decided to try and break that. He waved his hands to get everyone's attention and then pointed to the picture he'd found of the little girl, a question mark appearing above his head.

Jack's smile grew bigger as he and Tooth moved to look closer. Tooth saw the little girl and said "That's Annika isn't it? She's just as cute as I imagined!" She squealed, unable to help herself.

Jack blushed a little and nodded. "Yeah that's her, when she was four years old." He said with a fond smile.

"Did you make this Jack?" Tooth asked. Jack nodded and looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So wait, you made all of these? I thought your wife did?" Bunny asked in confusion.

"Elsa made the castle; I just decorated the Great hall." Jack explained, looking over and realizing they were still in the doorway.

He looked confused for a moment "We didn't want to ruin flowers." North explained.

Jack smiled and said "I appreciate it, but don't worry. I can make more; you guys should get the chance to look around to."

Tooth looked at Jack curiously, not expecting him to be so open. "Keeping my past a secret isn't going to change it. She would have wanted me to share with you guys; she was always so concerned about me being alone. When I met her I had been a Guardian for half a century already, that's a long time to be invisible to the world. And after I left Arendelle, I became that way again, alone and nonexistent to everyone. I may never see Elsa or Annika again, but I know I still have a family, and as much as I may hope sometimes, they won't ever leave me." He smiled, looking at Tooth.

The Fairy Queen smiled wide and hugged Jack tightly; Sandy joining in a moment later, North and Bunny overcame their worry of crushing the flowers and quickly wrapped their longer arms around the group of Guardians.

North felt the Time Orb shift in his pocket and decided that it was probably best to save it for another time. Right now, Jack had all the closure he needed. He'd come to terms with the loss of his family, maybe not the decision he'd made to leave them, but for now, everything was all right.


End file.
